The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

I wanted to let you know that The Awareness Center supports the efforts of SNAP, requesting that Webster University let Rabbi Magencey go.

The Awareness Center is The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault. Please take time out to visit our web page where we have listed the old articles regarding Rabbi Magencey. You may be interested in reviewing the documents for yourself:

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Magencey_Mordecai.html

The Awareness Center contacted the licensing board at the state of Missouri, and asked if Rabbi Magencey was in violation of the agreement made years ago. On July 2, 2003 a response was sent to us from Pamela Groose, Executive Director - Missouri State Committee of Psychologists.

The response is : "To teach Intro to Psychology would not require a license to practice psychology and the same would go for religious studies. Whether or not his prior problem with his Missouri Psychology license is a problem for him teaching at the universities would be a decision of the universities."

Magencey is teaching at Webster University and Washington University. He is a part-time rabbi at Covenant House, working with senior citizens.

The state and Magencey, a psychotherapist in Chesterfield, signed a stipulation that strips Magencey of his license in Missouri and bans him from practicing in any state or foreign country.

Magencey is the son a prominent rabbi in St. Louis. His Father, Rabbi Avraham Magencey a beloved, respected man was the 'mohel' of St. Louis for years.

I wanted to let you know that The Awareness Center supports the efforts of SNAP, requesting that Webster University let Rabbi Magencey go.

The Awareness Center is The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault. Please take time out to visit our web page where we have listed the old articles regarding Rabbi Magencey. You may be interested in reviewing the documents for yourself:

The Awareness Center contacted the licensing board at the state of Missouri, and asked if Rabbi Magencey was in violation of the agreement made years ago. On July 2, 2003 a response was sent to us from Pamela Groose, Executive Director - Missouri State Committee of Psychologists.

The response is : "To teach Intro to Psychology would not require a license to practice psychology and the same would go for religious studies. Whether or not his prior problem with his Missouri Psychology license is a problem for him teaching at the universities would be a decision of the universities."

Magencey is teaching at Webster University and Washington University. He is a part-time rabbi at Covenant House, working with senior citizens.

The state and Magencey, a psychotherapist in Chesterfield, signed a stipulation that strips Magencey of his license in Missouri and bans him from practicing in any state or foreign country.

Magencey is the son a prominent rabbi in St. Louis. His Father, Rabbi Avraham Magencey a beloved, respected man was the 'mohel' of St. Louis for years.

Actor Gadi Saban was indicted yesterday in the Tel Aviv District Court on charges of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. The charges relate to an incident involving a young woman at the TLV nightclub in Tel Aviv last week. According to the indictment, Saban first spoke to the woman and then began dancing with her and kissing her. At a later stage, while the girl was dancing alone, Saban allegedly dragged her to the womens toilets and assaulted her.

The High Court decided Friday to revoke the conditional bail awarded to soap opera star Gadi Saban, who is facing charges of rape, attempted rape and indecent assault on a woman in the bathroom of a Tel Aviv night club two weeks ago.

On Thursday, the Tel Aviv District Court released Saban into house arrest – a decision that was immediately appealed by the State Prosecutor's Office. Justice Miriam Naor, in an emergency session of the High Court, overturned the decision.

"Everyone agrees that Saban's celebrity status should not influence the decision regarding his detention," wrote Justice Naor. "The state claims that the Tel Aviv District Court did not adequately explain why if felt that the fact Saban is a known figure reduces the danger he poses."

In addition to releasing Saban from jail and placing him under house arrest at his mother's home in Ashdod, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that he will be allowed to leave the house, accompanied by his mother, if the state is given 24 hours notice. In addition, the court issued orders barring Saban from leaving the country and from contacting the complainant.

Justice Naor refused to accept the Tel Aviv District Court's arguments for releasing Saban: firstly, that he would be unlikely to repeat his alleged action, since he was apparently drunk at the time of the attack; and, secondly, that the charges that he is facing are not severe enough to warrant his continued detention.

As a result of the High Court ruling, Saban was remanded until the end of proceedings against him, although Justice Naor said that he would be able to appeal the decision once the complainant had given her testimony. While he was being led away to the holding cells, Saban said that he was surprised by the decision.

Television actor Gadi Saban was convicted yesterday after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman in the restroom of a Tel Aviv club last March.

The conviction was part of a plea bargain in which the prosecution and defense agreed to ask the court to sentence Saban, 29, of Tel Aviv, to two years in prison and a payment of NIS 15,000 in compensation to the victim.

Tel Aviv District Court judges Saviona Rotlevy, Avraham Tal, and Ofra Solomon-Cherniak will publish their verdict on October 21.

At the hearing, the judges questioned whether Saban was being shown too much lenience, expressing dismay at the message the plea bargain might send. The initial indictment had charged Saban with rape.

Saban met the woman at an "after party" held at the TLV club in the Tel Aviv port, struck up a conversation and danced with her. At close to 9 A.M., he dragged her into the club's restrooms and forced himself on her in one of the stalls.

Prosecutor Hannah Gilboa noted that Saban has prior convictions on charges involving violence, the last from 1999. She said the claimant agreed to the plea bargain, asking not to testify to avoid additional trauma.

Saban expressed remorse yesterday, reading out a written statement to that effect. He said he had got carried away because he was drunk that morning after having attended several parties. Saban's lawyer, Sassi Gez, argued for leniency on the grounds that no television program will offer his client a role in the future. Rotlevy replied that from her knowledge of television talk shows, they will all be inviting Saban to appear.

The player Gadi Saban molesting and was in jail . Soon he will talk about the experiences of jail and his relationship with women in the show stand - up new. Funny? Wait and see

Saban opera . Gadi Saban in court

After his last two years in prison, standing player Gadi Saban up Stand up show based on his experiences of his sentence and the hottest topic going lately on the agenda : sexual harassment .

Saban , who played in the TV series "Dreams of Youth" role thug and presented the program of the night " Beep Show" Beep channel on the standard host ars , was convicted three years ago of force in carrying out an indecent act with a young woman he met at the club the TLV . Initially charged with rape , but because the plaintiff had not been examined by a doctor next event a claim to the evidential problem to prove the offense. In addition, the complainant feared giving evidence in court and on those grounds the state reached a plea bargain with Saban , who agreed to admit committing indecent acts by force.

These days , as noted, began working on a show stand - up a new , soon to be featured at the " This - Comedy " at home - ZOA Tel - Aviv . The show tells the story in a humorous and focus his mind on the sexual harassment of girls and how to begin with and experience of the prison.

Actually, do not carry it appeared they could get a laugh from the audience , but who knows ? Besides, why settle Stand - Up if you can pick up a soap opera ? Why telenovela ? That lathering , Ben was born a week ago , when the happy mother is none other than Mr. waves of Staff , who represented him in court for the same case .

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Micha Hanan, the principal of the Beit Rotenberg school in Haifa, was indicted Sunday at the Haifa Magistrate's Court on charges of sodomy and indecent behavior.

Beit Rotenberg is an educational facility that trains mainly youths in media professions.

According to the indictment, Hanan, a well known personality in Haifa, allegedly sodomized several youths between the ages of 14 and 18.

The indictment charges that that during the summer of 2002, Hanan approached a 16-year-old youth and told him that he had noticed that the boy was confused about his sexual identity, and later on took him to the school library, where he committed indecent acts on him, including sodomy.

According to another section of the indictment, in 1997 Hanan tutored a 17-year-old student, convinced him that the physical relations between them were important and allegedly touched his body. Because Hanan took advantage of the student-teacher relations between them, he is charged with indecent behavior.

Hanan is also accused of allegedly caressing and taking nude photographs of a 17-year-old youth in 1993, and performing a similar act in 1994, when he allegedly touched another 17-year-old youth in intimate places and photographed him naked.

Hanan stopped working at the school immediately upon his arrest. Through his attorney, Tami Ulman, he denied all the charges against him.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Vicki Polin's efforts have received praise and criticism in the Jewish community.

From an apartment in a fervently religious section of Baltimore sits a nonobservant Jewish woman working fervently herself on a project that has become the center of her life and is making an impact — for good or bad, depending on whom you ask — in the Jewish community internationally.

Vicki Polin, 44, created and runs The Awareness Center, an organization devoted to the issue of sexual abuse in the Jewish community.

Essentially a one-woman operation, the center exists only on-line, through its Web site, www.theawarenesscenter.org, and over the phone. Polin and her board members, who include prominent rabbis and professionals knowledgeable about issues of sexual trauma, consult with people who turn to the organization for help.

All sorts of Jews, from all over the world, contact The Awareness Center for advice, counseling and referrals, says Polin, who puts in 60 to 80 hours a week on the project. She says the Web site is visited by about 15,000 people each month — victims of abuse, called "survivors" in the sexual trauma community, their family members, rabbis, lawyers, law enforcement officials and others concerned about the issue.

It is a clearinghouse with layers of information that includes lists of clergy, therapists and medical doctors who are sensitive to the needs of sexual trauma survivors, definitions of different types of abuse, and articles published by The Awareness Center explaining aspects of surviving and reporting such experiences.

The site also includes links to relevant sites within other faith communities.

The controversial element in The Awareness Center's site is its listing of rabbis who are believed to be sexual abusers. The documents listed were all published elsewhere first.

In some cases the people named have been prosecuted and convicted by the courts. In others the posting is based on allegations alone.

And that, say some, is unfair.

"It's a dangerous precedent to have a Web site listing unsubstantiated accusations made against people," says one New York rabbi, who asked not to be named.

The site also lists rabbis accused or convicted of a broad range of sexual misdeeds, from viewing child pornography several times to rape. But in order to distinguish the degree of severity of the offense, a viewer has to wade through the pages of documentation that have been posted.

"It is like guilt by association," concedes Rabbi Mark Dratch, an Awareness Center board member and head of the Rabbinical Council of America's Task Force on Rabbinic Improprieties.

Rabbi Dratch and others say that the good accomplished by the organization outweighs the potential damage of some of its postings.

"People who are survivors of sexual trauma don't have many places to turn, and Vicki has succeeded, through the accessibility and anonymity of the Internet, for people to have resources, have places to call," Rabbi Dratch says.

"If we had more resources we'd be in a better position to separate different levels of offenses, different kinds of accusations," says Rabbi Yosef Blau, a dean at Yeshiva University and Awareness Center board member.

"But without a much larger organization, at this point this is about all that could be expected to do under the circumstances. Hopefully people will read the articles and not just see names on a page.

"It's a tricky business, at what point we go public," he says.

Polin agrees it's a dilemma.

"We're not doing it to hurt people. We're doing it to protect people," she says.

The site also names rabbis without identifying their denomination. That's because sexual abuse "is a Jewish problem, not an Orthodox problem, or a Reform problem or an unaffiliated problem," Polin says. "It's a Jewish problem."

With the help of a law clinic volunteer, Polin hopes to gain status soon as a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization.

The project was born out of her experience working as a counselor with sexually abused clients in Illinois, where she lived at the time, through an organization called Voices, Victims of Incest Can Emerge Survivors.

"I'd get calls from people who were Jewish, and I found that I had to refer them to Christian resources," Polin recalls. "I realized I was handing over Jewish survivors to missionaries, and that really bothered me. I started telling everyone that the issue needed to be addressed in the Jewish community, but nobody did."

She said a number of Christian organizations were dealing with these issues, "and it always bothered me that there was nothing like it for Jewish survivors."

Now her efforts are being embraced by the Jewish establishment, with 140 rabbis of every denomination adding their names to the list of endorsers. And Polin says she has more to add but just hasn't had the time to get to it.

In the last few months Polin has been invited to address the conferences of Jewish Women International and of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance.

Her organization is struggling to stay afloat, though, with a few small donations to support the effort. Polin says that with more funding, she would like to put together a large conference — a "summit" — later this year of rabbis and other Jewish professionals, professionals working in the sexual trauma community, law enforcement officials, survivors of abuse and their family members.

Another goal is to set up a rabbinic certification program, "so if we need a referral we can say `this rabbi has that training,' " Polin says.

"We'll provide about 40 hours of training so they know the different kinds of offenders and victims, know the difference between sexual harassment, abuse and sexual assault, and domestic violence."

One person who praises Polin's work is a rabbi listed as a sexual offender by The Awareness Center.

"I give the Awareness Center a lot of credit," says Juda Mintz, an Orthodox rabbi who was released this month from a federal prison into a halfway house after serving 10 months on charges of viewing child pornography.

"We know that dealing with clergy there has been tremendous cover-up and denial. There have been concerted efforts by powers-that-be within the Jewish community to cover up or at best minimize what is more often than not serious offenses," he says.

"If this is a mechanism by which those offenses can be uncovered and the community can be sensitized, that is all to the good. And I say this as a perpetrator."

Five Haifa-area residents were convicted Tuesday at the Haifa District Court of rape and sodomy of a young mentally disabled woman, and of confining her.

The five are Avi Mizrahi, Zora Flagashvili, Mordechai Mizrahi, Gil Dahan and David Mizrahi. Another defendant, Moshe Grots, was convicted of assisting in the rape and the confinement, and Moshe Dahan was acquitted of all charges.

The men were convicted of performing group rape on a 20-year-old woman from the center of the country, who was staying in May 2002 in the Haifa Bay area. The young woman was first persuaded to perform intercourse with two of the men.

Afterwards, all five men had intercourse with the woman, who was injured in the act and required hospitalization.

Dahan, who was also accused of rape, was acquitted of all charges due to a police technical fault: he stood out at the lineup because he was the only on it with his hair tied up.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Five Haifa-area residents were convicted Tuesday at the Haifa District Court of rape and sodomy of a young mentally disabled woman, and of confining her.

The five are Avi Mizrahi, Zora Flagashvili, Mordechai Mizrahi, Gil Dahan and David Mizrahi. Another defendant, Moshe Grots, was convicted of assisting in the rape and the confinement, and Moshe Dahan was acquitted of all charges.

The men were convicted of performing group rape on a 20-year-old woman from the center of the country, who was staying in May 2002 in the Haifa Bay area. The young woman was first persuaded to perform intercourse with two of the men.

Afterwards, all five men had intercourse with the woman, who was injured in the act and required hospitalization.

Dahan, who was also accused of rape, was acquitted of all charges due to a police technical fault: he stood out at the lineup because he was the only on it with his hair tied up.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Five Haifa-area residents were convicted Tuesday at the Haifa District Court of rape and sodomy of a young mentally disabled woman, and of confining her.

The five are Avi Mizrahi, Zora Flagashvili, Mordechai Mizrahi, Gil Dahan and David Mizrahi. Another defendant, Moshe Grots, was convicted of assisting in the rape and the confinement, and Moshe Dahan was acquitted of all charges.

The men were convicted of performing group rape on a 20-year-old woman from the center of the country, who was staying in May 2002 in the Haifa Bay area. The young woman was first persuaded to perform intercourse with two of the men.

Afterwards, all five men had intercourse with the woman, who was injured in the act and required hospitalization.

Dahan, who was also accused of rape, was acquitted of all charges due to a police technical fault: he stood out at the lineup because he was the only on it with his hair tied up.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Five Haifa-area residents were convicted Tuesday at the Haifa District Court of rape and sodomy of a young mentally disabled woman, and of confining her.

The five are Avi Mizrahi, Zora Flagashvili, Mordechai Mizrahi, Gil Dahan and David Mizrahi. Another defendant, Moshe Grots, was convicted of assisting in the rape and the confinement, and Moshe Dahan was acquitted of all charges.

The men were convicted of performing group rape on a 20-year-old woman from the center of the country, who was staying in May 2002 in the Haifa Bay area. The young woman was first persuaded to perform intercourse with two of the men.

Afterwards, all five men had intercourse with the woman, who was injured in the act and required hospitalization.

Dahan, who was also accused of rape, was acquitted of all charges due to a police technical fault: he stood out at the lineup because he was the only on it with his hair tied up.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!